Texas-Sized Trouble

“How are you?” Eve asked. But she wasn’t looking at his face. No, her attention was flickering in the general area of his crotch, which meant she was probably talking about his butt injury.

“I’m fine. A doc in Abilene took the stitches out while I was up there. I’m as right as rain.” He couldn’t believe that had just come out of his mouth and didn’t know what the hell it meant. What the heck was right about rain, anyway? “Since you’re here, there’s no need for me to check on Tessie,” he added in a grumble.

Cassidy and Eve both blew out large enough breaths to fan a small forest fire. Lawson figured he should wonder what that relief exhaling was all about. Maybe even question it, but to do that, he’d have to hang around. Right now though, there was something he wanted more than answers.

A whole lot more.

And that was distancing himself from Eve, the puke and this tangled mess of memories leaking from their old baggage.

“Tessie?” He heard Eve call out at exactly the same moment that Lawson headed for the door. The sound of his own footsteps blended with those coming down the stairs. Tessie’s, no doubt.

Good. Eve was going to get to see her daughter and maybe accomplish the very thing that he should have never come here to try to do.

Maybe.

Tessie certainly didn’t respond with a welcome greeting to her mom, but Lawson didn’t wait around to see how this would play out. Nope. He headed home, knowing he’d filled his “stupid things to do” quota for the day.

CHAPTER EIGHT (#ulink_3b782bef-76a2-5809-a157-c0fd85e70283)

TANGLED MEMORIES DIDN’T go away just because you were sick and tired of trying to untangle them. Lawson already knew that, of course, but coming home to Wrangler’s Creek made it much harder to shove those memories to the back of his mind.

To get to the Granger Ranch, he had to drive through town and right down Main Street. That meant going past the high school that Eve and he had attended.

Brett, too.

There’d been football games, pop quizzes and more goofing off than studying. Things that all three of them had done together. The only times Brett had been excluded had been when lust played its hot little hand with Lawson and Eve. Lawson had made out with her too many times to count beneath the bleachers of the football field. And the baseball dugout. Oh, and in the gym where the basketball team played.

Apparently, sports venues had been libido triggers for Eve and him.

Once he’d driven past the high school, he got another blast from the past. He had to go right by Eve’s grandfather’s old house. Of course, her grandfather was long gone, and the place had changed hands several times over the past decade and a half. But Lawson had spent enough time in that house with Eve that even after all this time, it was approximately twenty-two thousand square feet of memories. Specifically, memories of him making out with Eve there in her bedroom.

In fact, the whole damn town, surrounding area and much of the county had become their make-out zones, which meant there were few places he could go that wouldn’t trigger the past.

His new house was an exception.

Even though she lived only a short distance away, there were no traces of Eve inside his place. The trick would be to keep it that way. Lawson knew he was tough, but he wasn’t sure his heart could stand another stomping. Darby had been safe. No chance of her hurting him because he would have never let things get deep with her. But Eve, well, she could still do some more damage after all these years. Seeing her in Austin had only confirmed that.

Lawson drove to the Granger Ranch. More memories. The barn, this time where Eve and he had had a romp or two. He made a mental note to limit his future sexual escapades to places he didn’t have to see on a daily basis.

Thankfully, there was work to do when he got to the ranch. A long buying trip like his came with paperwork, invoices and adjusting work schedules so there’d be enough hands around to deal with the shipments of the new cattle as they came in. No Garrett though. His cousin had apparently taken a rare day off to spend time with his wife and kids. Sophie was doing the same with her husband and twins.

Lawson still didn’t want a spouse or kids, but now that Eve had likely managed a reunion with Tessie, he was feeling a little like the odd man out. Yeah, he was stuck in a rut, but it was a rut that suited him.

Or rather it had until Eve had come back with that crapload of memories in tow.

Now he’d just have to work harder to make that rut the way it had been six weeks earlier.

Once he finished his work, he drove to his new house. Home, he mentally corrected himself, and he wondered just how long it would take for home to be his go-to word for the life he was trying to build for himself. Maybe a while—especially since there was an unwelcome sight waiting for him by the Heavenly Pastures’ gate.

Vita.

Her bicycle was leaning against the fence, and she had a chicken tucked under her arm. A live, ugly one. Emphasis on ugly. Of course, he’d never actually seen what he’d call a pretty chicken, but this one was dingy mouse gray with sprigs of black feathers poking out in random spots—including on its head.

Lawson stopped and lowered his window. “Yeah, I know. There’s a curse on me the size of elephant balls.”

Vita stared at him as if he’d just said the most ridiculous thing possible. Since those were the very words she’d foretold six weeks ago, he just stared back at her.

“There’s no more curse—for the time being, anyway,” Vita finally said after the staring match went on for several seconds. She tried to hand him the chicken, but when he didn’t take it, she frowned again. “You want more stitches in your heinie, do you?”

Lawson wasn’t sure if that was a threat or if it was chicken related. “Not especially.”

“Then take the hen.” She practically tossed it onto his seat. “Her name is Prissy Pants, and she’ll make things play out the way they should.”